BlackBerry Torch 9800 Review: Keeping RIM's Flame Alive

Conclusion

BlackBerry really struggled to get touchscreen right - look no further than the ill-fated BlackBerry storms as proof, and you’ll see just how stormy those waters are. If ironic names are anything, the Torch’s is even more telling - RIM hopes it got touch right this time, and I think they mostly have. The Torch is RIM’s comeback kid, and it admittedly does what it’s supposed to do very well. The BlackBerry DNA is still very much alive in the Torch despite a completely redesigned form factor, modified UI, and different screen aspect ratio.

Fire, it's a torch, get it?

But once again I have to return to a dramatic dichotomy in markets that RIM faces for BlackBerry shoppers. On one hand, for users that are required to use BlackBerry for enterprise support or security reasons, the Torch is a dramatic, almost paradigm shifting improvement over its predecessors. It’s literally the first BlackBerry I’ve used in years that feels like it’s from this decade. I think it’s fair to say that RIM has gone through OS 6 with a very fine tooth comb and removed all the 1990s-esque walls of text and labyrinthine menus that kept the platform feeling like it just couldn’t shake its utilitarian roots. 

With the Torch, you’re finally getting a browser with a WebKit core that can render web pages properly, new multimedia support, an improved camera, and new form factor that does touch right. I’m impressed with how much the Torch has been able to remake itself without loosing all of its BlackBerry DNA. If you’re a BlackBerry person that can’t go 10 minutes without checking BBM, the Torch feels like a much needed and welcome improvement. 

On the other hand, if you’re already spoiled with an iPhone 3GS, 4, or any number of Android 2.x devices, the Torch really isn’t going to impress. The browser is still slower on paper than the competition, the SoC isn’t as powerful as what’s already in either of those platforms, and frankly App World still doesn’t quite have the same level of variety as either of the two. I’ve described the Torch as anywhere from a quarter to a half generation behind - I think that’s the best way to describe performance.

That said, I rarely felt like the Torch was wanting for a faster SoC. Inspecting the applications manager and checking CPU load when waiting for a page to load often revealed that the device was waiting on the BIS link to send data than the browser to actually render. I guess therein lies the problem.

I feel like it’s time for RIM to grant users some liberty with just how much they want to be tied into BIS. Sending emails, BBM (PIN) messages, and other communiques over an encrypted link makes a lot of sense, but unless you’re out of the country and somewhere with carriers that regularly snoop on data, I don’t really see why most users need an encrypted tunnel for web browsing. As we’ve shown, it just slows the experience down when on 3G or WiFi connections. It made a lot of sense back when EDGE and 1xRTT were the only data connections in town, but now it feels like the overhead is more than it’s worth. 

There’s been growing talk that RIM should open up its services for use on the other platforms - Android has been named directly a few times, and still others have said RIM should outright make an Android smartphone. Still others have waxed poetic on their love for RIM services like BBM and the encrypted link architecture. Many have conveniently forgotten that RIM actually has already tried this with BlackBerry Connect, which assigned PINs to Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and even Symbian devices. BlackBerry stopped talking about it a while ago, but it wouldn’t be the first time non RIM devices were assigned PINs and treated like BlackBerries. That aside, it’s hard to argue that an Android-running, RIM built, BBM and BIS enabled device wouldn’t be attractive. Point is that there’s still a lot of life still in the platform, should RIM choose to capitalize. 

For now, RIM needs to get BlackBerry 6 rolled out to the three devices it’s promised updates for, and Torch-like devices out on the other carriers. 

For BlackBerry diehards, BlackBerry 6 and the Torch are both dramatic improvements over BB OS 5 and RIM’s first attempts at touchscreens with the two Storms. If we lived in a perfect world, all BlackBerry Storms would’ve been rounded up, buried in the New Mexico desert under at least 10 meters of concrete and lifeless caliche soil - Atari ET videogame style - and the owners given Torches on launch date. The Torch is what RIM should have launched years ago in their stead.